california’s history of residential design innovation ucb
TRANSCRIPT
California’s History of Residential Design Innovation UCB OLLI Spring 2021 Syllabus
Dr. Linda L. Day
Each lecture is a gallery of images that tell the story of California’s housing innovation.
Week 1 Adobes, Cottages, Bungalows
Peralta Adobe Interior, 1797 Perkins Cabin, 1849
Geography, climate, and culture influenced the Spanish/Mexican adobe building traditions and
those of the Americans and Europeans who used coastal forests and wood frame building
traditions who followed them in colonizing California. Wood frame workers’ cottages and
bungalows reflected and influenced American home building.
Suggested Reading and Viewing for Session 1
Kirker, Harold, California’s Architectural Frontier: Style and Tradition in the 19th
Century, NY: Russell & Russell, 1960.
McCoy, Esther, Five California Architects, NY: Praeger, 1975.
Winter, Robert, The California Bungalow, LA: Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc., 1980.
Restoring Presidio Adobe Walls. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLgbzNGuHrs
Buster Keaton’s “One Week” from 1920 depicts his attempt to assemble a mail order bungalow.
https://www.jamescolincampbell.com/california-bungalows/
California’s History of Residential Design Innovation Syllabus UCB OLLI Spring 2021
Dr. Linda L. Day
2
Week 2 Victorians
From the Gothic Revival homes and Italianate flat fronts inspired by pattern book author, A.J.
Downing to the slanted bays and richly embellished Queen Annes made possible by machine
woodworking, Victorian homes were built of wood from California’s coastal forests of oak and
redwood and benefitted from design/technology competence. Examples are the elegant, well-
built homes in affluent neighborhoods that were connected to city water and sewer systems by
the end of the 19th century and were the first “modern” houses.
Suggested Resources for Session 2
Delehanty, Randolph, with Sexton, Richard, photographer, In the Victorian Style, SF:
Chronicle Books, 1991.
Taylor, David, “Victorian Houses, A Guide To The Major Architectural Styles”
http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~infocom/scndempr/school.html
Walker, Richard, “Victorian Order and the Look of Urbanity”
http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Victorian_Order_and_the_Look_of_Urbanity
California’s History of Residential Design Innovation Syllabus UCB OLLI Spring 2021
Dr. Linda L. Day
3
Week 3 The First Bay Region Tradition in Architecture
Rev. Joseph Worcester’s Piedmont Cottage, 1876 (William Keith painting 1783)
Young architects with Beaux Arts and Eastern U.S. training inspired Northern California
architects to create a regional expression of international building trends that emphasized
integration of indoor and outdoor spaces. Bernard Maybeck, Julia Morgan, Willis Polk, and
others expressed historic details derived from classical and medieval buildings with wood and
sensitivity to a wondrous climate and landscape.
Suggested Reading and Viewing for Session 3
Freudenheim, L. M. and Sussman, E., Building with Nature: Roots of the San Francisco
Bay Region Tradition, Santa Barbara: Peregrine Smith, Inc., 1974.
Longstreth, Richard, On the Edge of the world: Four Architects in San Francisco at the
Turn of the Century, Berkeley: UC Press, 1983
Winter, Robert, ed., Toward a Simpler Way of Life: The Arts and Crafts Architects of
California, Berkeley: UC Press, 1997.
Making Roof Shingles With Hand Tools https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZA1J8RHltY
California’s History of Residential Design Innovation Syllabus UCB OLLI Spring 2021
Dr. Linda L. Day
4
Week 4 Classical Revival, Storybook Houses, and the Community Builders
Normandy (nee Thornburg) Village, 1927
By the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, classical revival styles as showcased by East Coast
architects were in demand by Californians. When members of the Armed Forces returned home
from the battlefields of Europe, they brought ideas about Tudor and Norman buildings with
them. Community builders took advantage of expanding streetcar lines to develop greenfield
acreage with period style homes.
Suggested Reading and Viewing for Session 4
Thompson, Daniella, “Thornburg Village (Normandy Village),” Berkeley Architectural
Heritage Association, http://berkeleyheritage.com/berkeley_landmarks/thornburg.html
Weiss Marc A., The Rise of the Community Builders: The American Real Estate Industry
and Urban Land Planning, (Columbia History of Urban Life.) New York: Columbia University
Press. 1987.
Hollywood’s Architect: PBS SoCal | KCET Documentary.
https://www.pbs.org/video/hollywoods-architect-3prwsa/
California’s History of Residential Design Innovation Syllabus UCB OLLI Spring 2021
Dr. Linda L. Day
5
Week 5 The Second Bay Tradition
William Wurster, founder and dean of the UC Berkeley College of Architecture and
Environmental Design, led a talented group of architects in a “redwood post and beam” approach
to building. Houses by him and a talented group including John Cooper Funk, Gardner A.
Dailey, and Henry Hill are showcased.
Suggested Reading for Session 5
Woodbridge, Sally, ed., Bay Area Houses, Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith, 1988.
Week 6 Ranch Houses
William Wurster’s Gregory Farm House, shown here in his drawing, told the world that
California ranch houses were special. This lecture starts with the adobe and wood frame ranchos
and haciendas, shows how adobe and early California wood frame buildings remained an
influence on regionally expressive architecture, and shows how the California ranch house and
the work of Cliff May and Joseph Eichler influenced the nation’s home building industry.
Suggested Reading for Session 6
Brostrom, C. L and Peters, R.C., The Houses of William Wurster: Frames for Living,
NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2011.
Gibbs, J. and Olsberg, N., Carefree California: Cliff May and the Romance of the Ranch
House, NY: Rizzoli, 2012
California’s History of Residential Design Innovation Syllabus UCB OLLI Spring 2021
Dr. Linda L. Day
6
Week 7 Tract Houses
Master contractors used industrial construction to develop greenfields for Bay Area subdivisions
with thousands of houses and with parks, schools, churches, and shopping centers to support
expanding suburbans. We explore Bohannon’s San Lorenzo Village and Hillsdale, Meyer’s
Glenmoor Gardens, and Cliff May’s Lakewood Rancho Estates, ending with Bay Meadows, a
San Mateo Transit Oriented Development.
Suggested Reading Session 7
Weiss, M. A., The Rise of the Community Builders: The American Real Estate Industry
and Urban Land Planning, N Y: Columbia University Press, 1987.
Week 8 Modernism and the Third Bay Tradition
Sea Ranch Condo 1, 1963
Modernism in the Bay Area was a regional interpretation of the International Style that
originated in Europe. The use of steel, glass, concrete, flat roofs, glass curtain walls, and
cantilevers was joined by sensitivity to climate, landscape, and the use of wood.
Suggested Reading for Session 8
Hess, Alan, (Author), Alan Weintraub (Photographer), Forgotten Modern: California
Houses 1940-1970, Gibbs Smith, 2007.